Teamsters vote for open shop at Munson

February 06, 2004|BY LISA DOUBLESTEIN NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER

When more than half of the Teamsters union employees at Munson Medical Center - laundry, dietary, maintenance, grounds and housekeeping workers - decided in January they didn't want to pay union dues anymore, they voted out union security.

That's the same union security that has been a key issue close to home - in the Northern Michigan Hospital/Teamsters Local 406 dispute for the past 15 months.

Union security is a clause that says all employees in a bargaining unit - all nurses, not just striking, in the NMH case - must pay dues. If they don't pay dues, the employer may have to take the employee off of the work schedule.

Approximately 285 workers at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City are represented by Teamsters Local 406, the same local representing Northern Michigan Hospital RNs. The employees include laundry, dietary, maintenance, grounds and housekeeping workers.

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"It is called a union deauthorization vote," said Stephen Glasser, regional director for the National Labor Relations Board in Detroit. "The vote is to decide whether or not the union security clause should be nullified in the contract.

"If employees vote this in, and if we certify that vote, the union cannot require as a condition of employment that employees pay dues."

Paying dues is fair, the Teamsters have been saying during the local labor strife. The union must represent all employees in a bargaining unit - again, all nurses, not just striking, in the NMH case. Therefore, those non-paying members would still receive union services for no charge, according to labor law regulations.

At NMH, officials have been saying union security is tops on their list of issues with Teamsters' representation at the hospital. They have said they don't want to force all nurses to pay dues to the union if they don't want to.

It's been one of the major sticking points in the impasse.

So, why wouldn't the hospital agree to an initial contract with union security in place, and let the employees vote it out if they're truly not in favor?

"Because they know union security is not the big deal here," said Teamsters Local 406 business agent Sharon Norton. "Do you think they care for a minute if the nurses pay dues? If they really cared, they'd care about pension. They'd care about insurance co-pay. If they really cared, they'd let the nurses decide for themselves."

NMH officials say it's not that simple.

"Under Michigan law, employees have the right to choose to pay dues or not, unless the employer bargains it away," said hospital spokesperson Tom Spencer. "We are not going to bargain away our employees' right to choose."

To vote the clause out of a contract, the NLRB needs 51 percent of the bargaining unit to vote it out. For example, if there were 100 people in the bargaining unit - both those in favor of the clause and opposed - 51 of them would have to vote for it to be removed.

Spencer said regardless of the recent Munson development, NMH won't budge on union security, because the union is pushing for it.

"We believe the union went on strike to force the hospital to accept union security," he said. "Because, under the union's formula for dues, they would make $250,000-$300,000 a year on dues from employees at NMH.

"We will protect our nurses who do not wish to financially support the Teamsters."